Why it works: Milk and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,655 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Squash Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
In a bowl, mix the sifted squash, boiling milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and beaten egg in the order given.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a pie crust.
Bake until set.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Squash
- Provides the bulk and moisture that give the filling its body.
- Egg
- Sets during baking, firming the filling into a sliceable custard.
- Milk
- Adds liquid and richness, keeping the filling smooth and tender.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps the surface brown lightly.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm aroma that flavors the filling.
The step that matters
Bake until set. The beaten egg thickens the filling as its proteins set with heat. Pulling the pie too early leaves a runny centre, while the filling's proteins firm as it bakes into a custard.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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